K-pop girl group <New jeans> by Min Hee-jin

Written by Jung Hojai

2022.09.22

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Of the five legendary modern visual art content creators (designers) who led the Korean pop industry were the '1970' generation. I assure you that the top three are "Cho Soo-Yong, "Kim Bong-jin," and "Min Hee-jin" of Naver, Baemin (Woowa Brothers), and SM Entertainment.

The significant influence of the entertainment business Min Hee-jin contributed to the Korean mass media is considered critical. Since she had to utilize key business models, visual arts elements, and information advanced graphic technology as she set them in motion.

K-pop's visual elements are crucial for persuading audiences. While she worked as a director for SM, Min Hee-jin played an irreplaceable role as the "Captain in Planning," who virtually led the K-pop visible trend and avant-garde concept for nearly a decade.

And as she moved to "Hive Entertainment," a new rising hotshot came back by creating a Fourth-generation K-pop girl group, . It would be the return of the so-called "Queen of K-pop."

1.Grounds for retro

Debuted in late July 2022. Now it is passing through the aftermath of the K-pop girl group's debut, which caused such big shock and fear. It quickly moved the center of K-pop into the four generations, and at the same time, it gave an apparent stimulus and tension with the "retro hip-hop style" centered on teenage girls to the similar and loose K-pop scene.

The reason why recently I have refrained from mentioning  is absolute because I could not fully distinguish the faces of the five members no matter how much I focused on them. Those who have written K-pop-related articles will know that the most challenging part is the laborious process of matching the members' "faces" with their "names." She spent nearly two months on the production of the  project.

Hyein, Haerin, Hani, Minji... Suddenly, I recalled the memories, almost 15 years ago, in 2007, when "Girls' Generation(SNSD)" debuted. Distinguishing nine members at the time was a severe mission given to K-pop fans, and designating each of their nicknames confused their fans.

SM Entertainment designed the nine members exceptionally similarly. The strategy is now being repeated on  again. I felt like Eugene of <S.E.S> and Yoo-na of <Girls' Generation> jumped onto the stage traveling back in time.

2. Girl group War on 2022

Kpop scenes were so fierce of the so-called "girl group war." So many active girl groups have released new songs, jumping to the market to renew the market atmosphere depressed by COVID-19 over the past two years. At the same time, the competition was so fierce that even if one album failed, it was a time of significant damage. The queen of the third generation  has become in danger.

In other words, this summer's girl group competition was both a "world view" war and a "generational confrontation." Every rookie debuted as the 'successor ' of Girls' Generation to the fourth generation of New Gins participated. As a result, many producers struggled to differentiate the rookies and make a new identity over the "essence" of the old K-pop girl groups.

Among them, the most notable change is that the girl group "4th generation" has established itself as a full-fledged mainstream generation. The K-pop generation theory is hard to say, but it is easy to see about seven years as the first generation. However, in the most challenging days, SES appeared with the IMF financial crisis in November 1997 as the first generation. On the contrary, today, as the Korean Media Economy is stable, thus it's a real primetime to the fourth generation.

The classification of K-pop generations is easier and more accurate for girl groups than for boy groups. And the fastest way is to focus on SM Entertainment's trajectory. SES (1st generation) Girls' Generation and f(x) (2nd generation) Red Velvet (3rd generation) AESPA (4th generation).

And Min Hee-jin herself designed such generation classifications, K-Pop bridgehead builder to the next generation. As I mentioned earlier, Min's commitment and the project  is a legacy as one who shared the peak days of the fourth generation.

3. "Restraining” v "Groove"

K-pop old fans must have been very embarrassed after encountering the debut stage by . This is because we were confused about whether we liked the color of the company SM, whether we liked individual teams such as Girls' Generation or Red Velvet, or whether we sympathized with Min Hee-jin's taste.

As if to end the fourth-generation idol war rampant in recent years, the music and stage presented by  correspond precisely to the taste of K-pop old fans. We can call it Retro hip hop or Retro idol. I wonder how these teenagers around 16 could have such restrained excitement. This was a perfect Korean-style groove that legendary girl groups such as < SES> or  wanted to show in their times.
The appearance of  resembles the first- and second-generation idols of SM.

In the 1990s, Lee Soo-man made great efforts to pull off hip-hop fashion and dance in the United States. However, strict training limited hip-hop style dance, which has been praised as the strong point of Kpop. When you look at the dance at the beginning of the debut of "Girls' Generation," you can feel a sense of creak and stiffness. Lee was on the right track.

4. Korean-Style Groove

K-pop girl groups world created by Min Hee-jin, or the kingdom of "one's taste," is terrific because it is so vast and radical when you look at it again. However, it seems that it has peaked with the debut of  In particular, the debut songs  and next song  presented the form and vision of the 4th generation K-pop girl group with such high completeness.

The first achievement I want to pick is the Korean expression of "coolness(멋짐)" and "Grove(흥)." In the past, the first-generation K-girl group appeared to be busy imitating Japanese pop dance and fashion. The 2nd and 3rd generations showed disciplined choreography dance in a systematic under the long-term training system, but it was not enough to say it was excellent.

Young talents looked so pretty and disciplined in their behaviors, but their coolness fell far short of the "male boy group." For example, BTS was the first to come close to the textbook on "Coolness."

In fact, even now, fourth-generation girl groups have "knife group dance" and "pretty face" as their primary strategies. However,  has been filled with "natural" and "cool" since its debut stage. It is a Korean-styled groove that has never been seen elsewhere in other Asia. K-pop girl groups have finally reached a point. It's "another new world" created by teenage girls.

PS.

1. The character of "IVE," which is most popular girl group nowadays, seems closer to three generations. <New Jean's> is evaluated as the girl group most proximate to the 4th generation complete.
2. I think the planner intends that the faces of the five members of <New Jean's> are similar. It's not easy to differentiate a teenage girl's appearance in the first place. So instead of not falling into the singer's face, viewers can focus on the natural and confident Choreography.
3. What is the representative song of <New Jeans>? Thinking about "Hype Boy" and "Attention" all weekend. On the side of the groove, I took "Hype boy."
4. The first big group that Vietnamese members (Hani) joined. Finally, a K-pop girl group member began. It's an innovative change, and I'll talk about it later.
5. What I liked could be Min Hee-jin's taste, not SM Entertainment.  How significant a producer's role is in this entertainment business!